"All the days of the desponding afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and foreboding], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances]." ~ Proverbs 15:15 (Amplified)
My friend Larry Welch is one of the most positive people I know. Larry writes an electronic newsletter, On the Run, and authored a book titled, Mary Virginia, A Father’s Story. Larry’s most recent published work is a book titled, “Quotations for Positive People” (And Those Who Would Like to Be). One hundred per cent of the profits from the book, which is available on Amazon.com, will be donated to the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. (www.bdcf.org) Their worthwhile mission is to provide for the needs of the homeless and impoverished children of Hanoi.
Larry’s recent book is a great source for quotations that uplift and encourage. As I was putting together this week’s column on positive attitudes, I found the following quote from motivational speaker Jim Rohn:
“Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.”
Larry also shared the following poem which was written by Peter Colwell, the author of Spell SUCCESS in Your Life, and an upcoming book: Invest in Your Attitude: CHANGE Your View and Your View Will Change You www.petercolwell.com
An Attitude of Abundance
by Peter Colwell
Cultivate peace in your heart and your mind
And sooner or later you’re likely to find
That all of your trouble and worry and care
Can be kept in perspective if only you’ll dare
To dream of a life overflowing with laughter
With hope for the future and the joy that you’re after
Choose your response to any circumstance.
Don’t leave a positive outcome to chance.
Hold yourself accountable for your life’s direction.
Choose words of kindness, of love and affection.
Adjust your attitude as often as required.
Don’t let your optimism get worn out or tired.
Navigate through negative emotions with care.
Of people who drain you and strain you beware.
Grow from your experiences each day of your life.
Learn from each setback, each heartache, and strife.
Expect more out of life; you often get what you give.
Now is the time to WAKE UP AND LIVE!
Finally, here are some more inspiring quotes I’d like to share:
“It's not your outlook but your uplook that counts.”
~ John Mason
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
~ Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
"A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of hardships." ~ Helen Keller
"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."
~ John Homer Miller
"The attitude of unhappiness is not only painful, it is mean and ugly. What can be more base and unworthy than the pining, pulling, mumping mood, no matter by what outward ills it may have been engendered? What is more injurious to others? What less helpful as a way out of difficulty? It but fastens and perpetuates the trouble which occasioned it, and increases the total evil of the situation. At all costs, then, we ought to reduce the sway of that mood, we ought to scout it in ourselves and others, and never show it tolerance."
~ William James, 19th century American psychiatrist and philosopher
"I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow."
~ Julia Cameron, author, "The Artist's Way"
“Life at any time can become difficult; life at any time can become easy. It all depends upon how one adjusts oneself to life.”
~ Morarji Desai
“If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”
~ Mary Engelbreit, artist, humanitarian, and entrepreneur
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” ~ Proverbs 23:7
"A strong, positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.”
~ Patricia Neal, Academy Award winning actress
“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.”
~ Helen Keller
"An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered."
~ Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” ~ Helen Keller
“A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones.”
~ Proverbs 17:22
